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137 Homeless Connection requires house chores, community service to access day and night shelters

By Shelley Widhalm

Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

Posted:
08/03/2014 10:37:05 AM MDT

Lad Bowling of Loveland helps set up tables Thursday to provide seating for the Lifetree Cafe film series at 137 Homeless Connection. Clients of the day center are asked to do chores to help keep the place clean. (Shelley Widhalm / Loveland Reporter-Herald)

Loveland resident Lad Bowling started and leads the Monday night potlucks at the 137 Homeless Connection to do his part.

The 53-year-old, homeless for a year, received a $100 gift card and was told to pay it forward, so he bought $50 worth of food for a cookout. He helps clean up at the day shelter and hung cabinets and moved furniture for the new House of Neighborly Service location for its reopening Monday,

"I'm very thankful for this place here," said Bowling, a small construction contractor who was injured outside of the job. "There's a lot of good people here. There's a lot of good karma here."

New Requirements

As of September, Bowling and the others who come to the day shelter at 137 S. Lincoln Ave. are expected to do a chore each time they visit to keep the place clean and organized. And if they stay in the night shelter from November to March — rotated among Loveland churches — they are required to do two hours a week of volunteer work in the community.

This is to avoid residents, especially those outside of Loveland, from coming to the city expecting a handout without giving anything in return, while still continuing to serve Loveland's homeless population, said Doug Ashbaugh, homeless outreach manager for 137, a program of the House of Neighborly Service.

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"Are they coming here to take advantage of the system?" Ashbaugh said. "We want to safeguard our city. We don't have a full-time shelter. We're an emergency shelter."

The community service requirement was added in November, when the night shelter, for the first time, had a waiting list and had to turn people away. The shelter is limited to 30 people and saw 40 nights with more than 30 people, compared with three to four nights the year before, Ashbaugh said.

Community Service

Shelter staff considered ways to handle the influx, debating a lottery system but decided to continue using a first-come, first-serve method with the addition of the community service requirement. The clients get paperwork from where they do the service and can bank their hours for future stays, Ashbaugh said.

"Those that want to suck the system dry, they don't want to do that," Ashbaugh said about the new requirement.

Next winter, Ashbaugh may increase the number of community service hours, possibly to four or more, he said.

"We want to make sure the homeless are being enabled," said Glorie Magrum, executive director of the House of Neighborly Service. "We have guidelines in place to ensure that those who truly want a hand up that their needs are being met."

Michael Albert, homeless for more than two years, likes to help the other clients on the computers at the library as a way to give back to the shelter and to feel useful, he said.

"It's little steps like that that give you more self-confidence," Albert said.

The clients who come to the day shelter are expected to do one of the 28 chores, which take a few minutes, in order to use the services there, such as showers, laundry, storage, mail pickup and access to computers.

"If this is going to be their place, they need to take care of it," Ashbaugh said.

New Life Program

Another way to get clients engaged in what goes on at 137 is through programming.

In January 2012, 137 initiated New Life Program, modified from the Denver Rescue Mission, to help clients through case management, counseling, community service, education, jobs, and the completion of incentives to work their way out of homelessness.

Before they can enter the program, they have to go through a candidate phase to ensure they are meeting basic expectations, such as respecting authority and peers, managing their anger and being reliable at work, and following the rules of signing in, meeting with caseworkers and assisting in cleaning.

"If they want to get out of their situation, that's where the New Life Program comes in," Ashbaugh said. "People do not have to do this. You can't coerce people into change. You can come alongside them and empower the process, but you can't do the process for them."

Ashbaugh has observed that for 137's clients to make the change, they have to stop letting crisis rule their lives, even something like a flat tire on a bike on their way to work or school preventing them from getting there not just that day but for several days.

"Crisis is ruling their life," he said. "If crisis rules, they never get anywhere."

The clients need to hate that crisis and be willing to ask for help, instead of giving up or trying to solve the problem on their own with limited resources that takes more time and energy, Ashbaugh said. They're caught in short-term versus long-term thinking and turn a small crisis into something larger, he said.

To enter the program, they need to write a one-page essay, answering questions about their prior situation and how they got there and why they chose to come to 137 and what they hope to accomplish there, said Val Fisher, 137 assistant manager.

Even if they don't like to write, Fisher said she will ask them the questions and write up their verbal answers.

"We figure out the obstacles of why they're stuck here and why they can't get out of homelessness," Fisher said. "So they can see patterns in their life."

Once clients are in the program, they work with a case manager, create an education or career plan, get any needed counseling and work on personal issues, while being willing to take advice and be part of what goes on at 137.

"Are they willing, if they have time, to give back," Fisher said.

Financial Support

The 137 Connection is in need of financial support from the community, following some cuts in June from the Human Services Commission of the city of Loveland, both to 137 and the Angel House, an emergency housing program for homeless families. The city provides the building for the 137 day shelter, and the churches provide space for the winter night shelter.

Most of the budget for 137, or $80,000 a year, is for two staff, who work 32 hours a week. The commission did not renew $40,000 in support for 137.

"That's a big chunk that we lost, and that's what we need to make up for in other ways," Magrum said.

House of Neighborly Service, which operates both emergency programs, has not identified specific fundraising approaches at this point, she said. In the meantime, HNS is using its own funds to fill the gap, she said.

"137 has done such a good job that people stopped calling the city, complaining about homelessness. People are under the impression, there isn't an issue," Magrum said. "It's not as noticeable, so the community isn't seeing an urgent need."

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